The presently disclosed subject matter relates to a cell analyzing method and cell analyzing apparatus which distinguish between normal and cancerous tissues.
After a pathological specimen is prepared, a pathological diagnosis on a tissue slice is performed by a cytotechnologist or a pathologist. A skilled technique is required for preparing a specimen or performing a diagnosis by a cytotechnologist or a pathologist, and there is a case where a difference may be produced in the diagnosis result depending on the difference in technique. In the period from extraction of a tissue to diagnosis, procedures such as tissue fixation, section preparation, and staining are necessary, and a cytotechnologist, a pathologist, or the like is restrained for a predetermined time period. Therefore, procedures which are to be performed before diagnosis are requested to be automatized.
Moreover, a determination whether a tissue extracted during an operation is a tumor tissue or a normal tissue is required depending on the portion of a tumor or the operative method. In the determination, a rapid diagnosis due to cytoscreening or a frozen slice is performed. As compared with a usual pathological analysis, however, higher skilled technique and diagnosis accuracy are requested. If an apparatus which performs objectively and rapidly a diagnosis whether tissue extracted during an operation is tumor (cancer cells) or not is developed, such an apparatus seems to be very useful for a pathologist.
Therefore, for example, an apparatus and method of analyzing cells have been proposed in which cells that are isolated and nuclear stained are measured to acquire a histogram of the fluorescence intensity, the number of strong-area cells that are distributed in an area where the fluorescence intensity is stronger than normal cells is obtained from data of the histogram, and the malignancy grade of cancer is determined based on the number of strong-area cells and the histogram (for example, see JP-A-2012-047594).
According to the apparatus and method of analyzing cells disclosed in JP-A-2012-047594, it is possible to determine the malignancy grade of cancer based on a histogram and the number of cells that are distributed in an area where the fluorescence intensity is stronger in the histogram. However, it is requested to perform more accurately the determination of cancerous tissues.